While Mila is over there Kool Aid Man running her way through life, the Big Kid is over here being ... BIG.
You guys, the baby that inspired this site is not a baby anymore. She's a Burgh Fourth Grader now. It doesn't exactly roll off of the tongue, but it's a fact.
FOURTH FREAKIN GRADE.
The thing about fourth grade is that it was a huge turning point for me as a kid. I've been doing all sorts of listening quietly while Alexis tells me how great fourth grade is going to be because she's probably right. For her, it will be great.
For me, it wasn't.
In some ways, the big changes that came the summer before fourth grade should have equated to an upgrade. That was when we moved away from the definitely scary trailer park where a family of four could rent a home for $75 per month. That bought almost exactly the amount of luxury you would expect, so moving away should have been good. It should have been good because we moved to an acre of land and a better trailer just outside of the city. It was property and a home that my parents purchased.
It was sort of the American dream, if the dream includes a house that is on wheels.
Well, that, and a pile of debts that would never be repaid.
ANYWAY.
That move triggered the avalanche that would lead to a giant pile of crap landing squarely on my head. I never quite fit when I lived in North Dakota, and I especially didn't fit in the school district that we moved to. There are a lot of reasons, and some of those reasons are now "friends" of mine on Facebook.
Funny thing, that.
There's a whole lot more to all that happened starting in fourth grade, but it's all tucked in a box and locked in the back of the closet that exists in my mind. I'll drag it out eventually, but for now I'm enjoying the optimism and joy that is the Burgh Fourth Grader embracing a new school year.
It really is going to be a great year.
